Floor covering with carpet overcarpet held on by adhesive

ABSTRACT

New wall to wall carpeting is applied directly over worn broadloom or tile wall to wall carpeting having a backing secured to a hard floor surface (e.g. directly attached, such as by adhesive, to an existing concrete floor) and a top pile surface. The worn carpeting is cleaned and then a high molecular weight acrylic ester polymer emulsion adhesive is sprayed onto the top pile surface of the old carpet. The vinyl backing of one or more new carpet strips is applied directly to the adhesive. A fire retardant is preferably included with the adhesive or separately applied to the top pile surface of the old carpet. If desired the adhesive may be applied to only a small part of the old carpet for holding strips of hook fasteners, and the new carpet backing may include loop fasteners which cooperate with the hook fasteners and hold the new carpet in place.

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/560,124, filed Nov. 17,1995 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,658,430.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

When wall to wall broadloom carpeting becomes worn, typically thecarpeting is removed and new carpeting is put in its place. While thismay be effective for conventional carpeting which is tacked down toexisting or cooperating flooring, more difficulties may be encounteredwhen the worn carpeting has been direct glued down such as described inan article in the Jan. 14, 1980 issue of Floor Covering Weekly entitled"Direct Glue Down Method Growing in Importance in CommercialInstallations", and such as described in the Sep. 19, 1989 paperpresented at TIFCON '89 by E. Ellery entitled "Laying Carpets by TotalAdhesion", the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by referenceherein. However even with direct glued down existing carpeting removalis a typical procedure before the new carpeting is employed because itis very difficult to get new carpeting to properly adhere to the worncarpeting.

According to the present invention a method of installing new wall towall carpeting--and flooring applied by that method--are provided whichdo not require removal of the existing worn wall to wall carpeting.According to the present invention it is possible to apply new carpetingdirectly over the worn carpeting.

As used in the present specification and claims "wall to wall carpeting"encompasses broadloom (typically in roll form), tile (i.e. carpettiles), or other conventional wall to wall carpeting types.

According to one aspect of the present invention a method of installingnew wall to wall carpeting at a location in which there is existing wornwall to wall carpeting having carpet pile facing upwardly, is provided.The method comprises the steps of: (a) Applying adhesive to at least themajority of the upwardly facing pile of the worn wall to wall carpeting.And, (b) applying new carpeting having a backing and pile by bringingthe new carpet backing into contact with the adhesive, so that theadhesive serves at least in part to substantially permanently adhere thenew carpeting to the worn carpeting. The method is made particularlyfeasible by practicing step (a) by spraying a high molecular weightacrylic ester polymer emulsion adhesive (such a sold by BurlingtonIndustries, Inc. of Greensboro, N.C. under the trade name "PRIMERSEALER") onto the top pile surface of the old carpet. When installingnew carpeting over existing carpeting, obtaining a Class I fire ratingbecomes more difficult. Therefore it is preferred that a fire retardantalso be included in the adhesive that is applied over the worn carpetingprior to step (b). Application of the fire retardant preferably isaccomplished by adding the fire retardant to the adhesive and sprayingthem on together.

Typically there is the desirable further step of cleaning the worncarpeting substantially immediately prior to the practice of step (a),not only for hygiene purposes but also to ensure a better bond betweenthe adhesive and the backing of the new carpeting (which preferably is avinyl backing such as is provided in THERMOBOND 6 carpeting availablefrom Burlington). Cleaning may be practiced by vacuuming and/orshampooing or steam cleaning.

Typically the worn wall to wall carpeting, if broadloom, has a firstwidth and step (b) is practiced by applying strips of carpeting eachhaving a second width which is about half or less than the first width.Alternatively, if the worn carpeting is in the form of adhesivelysecured carpet tiles step (b) is most typically practiced by applyingapproximately six foot wide rolls of new carpeting, such as theBurlington THERMOBOND 6 product discussed above.

According to another aspect of the present invention a floor coveringfor a hard surface floor is provided comprising the followingcomponents: Worn broadloom or tile wall to wall carpeting having abacking and a top pile surface, with the backing of the worn carpetingsecured to the floor hard surface; New wall to wall carpet having abacking and a top pile surface; And, adhesive covering at least themajority of the worn carpeting top pile surface for adhering the backingof the new carpet directly to the top pile surface of the worn carpet.Preferably there also is a flame retardant on at least the majority ofthe worn carpet top pile surface, of sufficient amount to obtain a ClassI fire rating. As described above with respect to the method, theadhesive preferably comprises a high molecular weight acrylic esterpolymer emulsion adhesive, and the fire retardant may be included in theadhesive. Desirably the new wall to wall carpeting comprises a pluralityof strips of vinyl backed carpeting such as the Burlington THERMOBOND 6,in which case the strips of new carpeting are about six feet wide (andthe worn broadloom wall to wall carpeting is at least about 12 feet widewhile the carpet tiles are usually about 18 inches or 24 inches square).While the worn carpeting may be conventional carpeting applied bytacking, with or without padding, to the hard floor surface, theinvention is particularly suitable for use with worn commercialcarpeting that has been adhesively secured directly to the hard floorsurface (or adhesively secured to padding that is adhesively secureddirectly to the hard floor surface).

Another embodiment of the invention may make use of the techniques of anexisting commercial product which utilizes "TAC-FAST" tape. The TAC-FASTtape product which is generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,658(the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein)includes a wall to wall carpet construction in which a tape having hookmembers (see 22 in FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,658) is applied to anexisting hard floor surface (such as concrete), and then new carpeting10 (see FIGS. 1 and 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,658) having downwardlyfacing loop members on the back side thereof is applied to the spacedtapes of hooks, the hooks and loops together providing a fasteningsystem which securely holds the carpeting in place. However existingTAC-FAST tape does not adhere effectively to the pile surface of worncarpeting so that it is not possible to effectively hold the newcarpeting in place. Existing TAC-FAST tape pulls loose around its edgesafter about 24 hours. Therefore according to another aspect of thepresent invention a method, and flooring, are provided in which theTAC-FAST system can be utilized over existing carpeting by spraying highmolecular weight acrylic ester polymer emulsion adhesive onto the toppile surface of the worn carpeting using a tank sprayer, the adhesivebeing sprayed typically only to where the TAC-FAST tape will be applied,and after the adhesive sets up (dries or cures) the TAC-FAST is appliedand the new carpeting is installed and is effectively held in place overthe old carpeting since the TAC-FAST tape does not then come loose fromthe worn carpeting.

According to this aspect of the present invention a method of installingnew wall to wall carpeting at a location in which there is existing wornwall to wall carpeting having carpet pile facing upwardly, comprises thesteps of: (a) Applying adhesive to selected areas of the upwardly facingpile of the worn wall to wall carpeting at spaced locations thereon; (b)Applying first strips of a separable tape fastening material to theselected areas of adhesive, the strips comprising a backing and one ofthe fasteners of a separable hook and loop fastener system, with thebacking applied to the adhesive; And, (c) applying new carpeting havinga backing with the downwardly facing other member of the fasteners of ahook and loop separable fastener system, and a pile facing upwardly, bybringing the separable fastener member of the new carpet backing intocontact with the surface of the tape fastener member of the hook andloop fastener system secured to the worn carpeting so that the hook andloop fastener elements interact to hold the new carpeting securely tothe worn carpeting. The details of the adhesive, the use of flameretardant (either applied with the adhesive or applied over a majorityof the worn carpet top pile surface), and the particular size of the newcarpeting, are preferably as described in the first embodiment.

According to another aspect of the present invention a floor coveringfor a hard surface floor is provided comprising the followingcomponents: Worn broadloom or tile wall to wall carpeting having abacking and a top pile surface; The backing of the worn carpeting beingsecured to the floor hard surface; New wall to wall carpet having abacking with one type of fastener of a hook and loop fastener system,and a top pile surface; At least one strip of material having a backingand a top surface with the other fastener of a hook and loop fastenersystem for engaging the one fastener of a hook and loop fastener systemin holding it in secure contact therewith; And, adhesive adhering thebacking of the at least one strip of material directly to the top pilesurface of the worn carpet. Typically the loop fastener component ismounted downwardly facing on the new carpet backing, while the hookfastener components are on the surface of the strips of materialadhesively secured to the existing carpeting. The other details of thecomponents are preferably as described above for the other embodiments.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide for theeffective, simple, less labor intensive, and advantageous installationof new wall to wall carpeting/flooring in areas where there is existingbroadloom or tile wall to wall carpeting. This and other objects of theinvention will become clear from an inspection of the description of theinvention, and from the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic box diagram illustrating exemplary method stepsthat may be practiced according to a first aspect of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a top schematic perspective view showing installation of newcarpeting over worn wall to wall carpeting in a room in a commercialbuilding;

FIG. 3 is a side schematic cross-sectional view, with the size of somelayers greatly exaggerated in size for clarity of illustration, offlooring according to the invention which is applied as illustrated anddescribed with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic like that of FIG. 1 for a second embodiment of themethod according to the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic like that of FIG. 2 only showing an application ofnew carpeting over existing carpeting according to the method of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the basic steps in the practice of afirst embodiment of the method according to the present invention in theinstallation of new wall to wall carpeting. Existing worn carpeting iscleaned--as indicated at 10 in FIG. 1--in the preferred embodiment inorder to ensure better practice of the other method steps, as well asproviding more effective hygiene. The cleaning in step 10 may beaccomplished in any conventional manner, such as by vacuuming and/orshampooing and/or steam cleaning.

Over the clean existing worn carpeting an adhesive is applied asillustrated by box 12 in FIG. 1. Preferably the adhesive is applied byspraying from a portable tank, although depending upon the particulartype of adhesive and the environment of the existing worn carpet, othertechniques for application may be utilized including rolling, brushing,or if the adhesive is in powder or other solid form by machine or handspreading it. In the preferred embodiment according to the presentinvention the adhesive is a high molecular weight acrylic ester polymeremulsion adhesive, such as sold by Burlington Industries, Inc. ofGreensboro, N.C. under the trade name "PRIMER SEALER". The typicalcomposition of a preferred, exemplary version of this adhesive is: morethan 30% high molecular weight acrylic ester polymer emulsion, from0-0.03% hydrocolloid stabilizers (e.g. about 0.005-0.015%, preferablyabout 0.01%), about 0.5-2% inorganic hydroxyl salt (e.g. about 1%),0-0.2% inorganic biocide treatments (e.g. about 0.01-0.09, preferablyabout 0.05%), about 1-3% organic gum resin (e.g. about 2%), 0-0.1%organic colorant (e.g. about 0.005-0.015, preferably about 0.01%), about0.1-1% aqueous alcohol (e.g. about 0.5%), and the rest of theformulation--up to 100%--of inert and/or specialty use materials.

Preferably a flame retardant is applied over the existing carpeting atapproximately the same time as, and preferably directly with (merelybeing added to), the adhesive. The flame retardant is supplied insufficient quantity so that it is possible to obtain a Class I firerating for the final installation, given the other materials existing orutilized. A wide variety of flame retardants that are readilycommercially available may be added to the adhesive before sprayingusing a airless sprayer or the like, such as alumina trihydrate ("ATH"),bromine or chlorine flame retardants enhanced by antimony oxides, incombination or alone (such as chlorinated paraffins, or brominatedhydrocarbons such as DBDPO or TBBPA), zinc borate, magnesium hydroxideor magnesium carbonate, melamine phosphates and pyrophosphates,molybdenum trioxide or ammonium octamolybdate, tiaryl phosphate estersor other organophosphorus compounds, zinc oxide, or combinations ormixtures of the above. In one particular example, ATH (AluminaTrihydrate) flame retardant is utilized in an amount that is about 8% byvolume of the preferred high molecular weight acrylic ester polymeremulsion adhesive described above.

After the practice of step 12 in FIG. 1, new carpeting is applied to theadhesive when the adhesive is tacky as indicated at 14, and afterapplication of the carpeting the entire system is allowed to dry or cureas indicated at 16. Drying or curing may be facilitated by theapplication of heat or ventilation, depending upon the particularadhesive, or the drying or curing step may be quick enough that nosignificant time delay is necessary before utilizing the new carpeting.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate, respectively, the practice of the method ofFIG. 1 utilizing particular materials, and the final flooring produced,respectively. In FIGS. 2 and 3 the existing hard surface floor is shownas a slab of concrete 18, but of course the flooring may be different,including plywood or other sub-flooring, slate, stone, or other hardrock-like material, or the like. The existing worn broadloom or tilewall to wall carpeting is shown generally by reference numeral 19 inFIGS. 2 and 3, and includes--as seen in FIG. 3--a backing 20 and a toppile surface 21. In the embodiment actually illustrated in FIG. 3 theexisting worn carpeting 19 is shown adhesively secured, by conventionaladhesive 22, directly to the concrete floor 18, although the inventionis equally applicable to situations where the carpeting 19 is adhesivelyapplied over padding, and the padding is applied by adhesive, or wherethe carpeting (with or without padding) is applied by conventionaltacking techniques.

Both FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate adhesive 25 which has been applieddirectly onto the top pile surface 21 of the worn carpeting 19.Preferably the adhesive is applied over the vast majority of theexisting carpeting 19 (e.g. greater than 90% of the surface area thereofpreferably about 100%), and typically at least a majority of the surfacearea thereof. The adhesive 25 is--as described above--preferably mixedwith a flame retardant and sprayed on using an airless sprayer.

After the adhesive 25 has been sprayed on at least a particular area ofthe existing carpeting 19, the new carpeting--shown generally byreference 27 in FIGS. 2 and 3--is applied. The new carpeting 27 includesa backing 28 and a top pile surface 29. The backing 28 may be anysuitable material, such as a vinyl backing as provided in theconventional Burlington THERMOBOND carpeting, and the backing 28 isapplied over the adhesive 25 while the adhesive is still tacky. Asschematically illustrated in FIG. 2 it is preferred that the newcarpeting 27 be applied in strips which have a width which is about halfor less of the width of the existing wall to wall carpeting 19 ifbroadloom. For example in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 thecarpeting 27 strips have a width of about six feet, which is theconventional width for rolls of commercial carpeting such as theBurlington THERMOBOND 6.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5 the new carpeting is applied over theexisting carpeting utilizing the basic techniques and components such asillustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,658 and such as sold commerciallyunder the trade name "TAC-FAST". In the FIGS. 4 and 5 embodimentcomponents or steps that are the same as those in the FIGS. 1 through 3embodiment are shown by the same reference numeral, while components orsteps that are similar but not identical are shown by the same referencenumeral only preceded by a "1".

As illustrated in FIG. 4, in the box 112 the adhesive is spot or stripapplied to selected surface areas of the existing carpeting 19 ratherthan applied over the entire surface area (or a majority of the area)thereof. FIG. 5 illustrates adhesive 125 applied in a generallyrectangular configuration that corresponds to that of a hook strip 33with which it will be utilized. After the adhesive is spot applied, hookstrips 33 are applied over the spot applied adhesive as illustrated at31 in FIG. 4. Then after drying or curing 116 (if necessary), the newcarpeting 127 is applied as indicated at 114 and as shown in FIG. 5.

The new carpeting 127 has a pile top surface 29 and the backing 128preferably includes a downwardly facing raised loop tricot fabric whichis adhesively affixed to the bottom side of conventional carpeting orotherwise is provided with the backing 128 (as illustrated in FIGS. 1and 3 of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,658). The strips 33 (such asillustrated in FIG. 2 of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,658) include a backing34 (which typically has its own adhesive applied thereto in theconventional TAC-FAST product), with hook fasteners 35 extendingupwardly from the top face thereof, the hook fasteners 35 cooperatingwith the loop fasteners of the backing 128 to form a separable fastenerwhich securely holds the carpeting 127 in place. The carpeting 127preferably is also applied in six foot wide strips or the like, asdescribed above with respect to the FIGS. 1 through 3 embodiment. Flameretardant is also preferably used in this embodiment at least in theadhesive areas 125, and if necessary to achieve a Class I fire rating issprayed over at least the majority of the area of the existing broadloomor tile wall to wall carpeting 19.

It will thus be seen that according to the present invention twodifferent embodiments of methods, and floorings, are provided accordingto the present invention which include the cost effectiveness, low laborintensiveness, and other advantages of application of new wall to wallcarpeting over existing wall to wall carpeting. While the invention hasbeen herein shown and described in what is presently conceived to be themost practical and preferred embodiments thereof it will be apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications may be madethereof within the scope of the invention, which scope is to be accordedthe broadest interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompassall equivalent methods and products.

What is claimed is:
 1. A floor covering for a hard surface floor,comprising:worn broadloom or tile wail to wall carpeting having abacking and a top pile surface; said backing of said worn carpetingsecured to said floor hard surface; new wall to wall carpet having abacking and a top pile surface; and adhesive covering at least amajority of said worn carpeting top pile surface and adhering saidbacking of said new carpet directly to said top pile surface of saidworn carpet.
 2. Flooring as recited in claim 1 further comprising aflame retardant on at least the majority of said worn carpet top pilesurface, sufficient to obtain a Class I fire rating.
 3. Flooring asrecited in claim 1 wherein said adhesive comprises a high molecularweight acrylic ester polymer emulsion adhesive.
 4. Flooring as recitedin claim 3 wherein said new wall to wall carpeting comprises a pluralityof strips of vinyl backed carpeting.
 5. Flooring as recited in claim 4wherein said strips of new carpeting are about six feet wide and whereinsaid worn carpeting is at least about twelve feet wide.
 6. Flooring asrecited in claim 1 wherein said worn carpet is adhesively secureddirectly to the hard floor surface.
 7. Flooring as recited in claim 1further comprising a flame retardant on at least those portions of saidworn carpet top pile surface covered by adhesive.
 8. Flooring as recitedin claim 7 wherein said adhesive comprises a high molecular weightacrylic ester polymer emulsion adhesive.
 9. Flooring as recited in claim1 wherein said new wall to wall carpeting comprises a plurality ofstrips of vinyl backed carpeting.
 10. Flooring as recited in claim 9wherein said strips of new carpeting are about six feet wide and whereinsaid worn carpeting is at least about twelve feet wide.
 11. Flooring asrecited in claim 3 wherein said worn carpet is adhesively secureddirectly to the hard floor surface.
 12. Flooring as recited in claim 11further comprising a flame retardant on at least those portions of saidworn carpet top pile surface covered by adhesive.
 13. Flooring asrecited in claim 1 wherein said adhesive covers greater than 90% of saidworn carpeting top pile surface.
 14. Flooring as recited in claim 2wherein said adhesive covers greater than 90% of said worn carpeting toppile surface.
 15. Flooring as recited in claim 7 wherein said adhesivecovers greater than 90% of said worn carpeting top pile surface. 16.Flooring as recited in claim 9 wherein said adhesive covers greater than90% of said worn carpeting top pile surface.
 17. Flooring as recited inclaim 10 wherein said adhesive covers greater than 90% of said worncarpeting top pile surface.
 18. Flooring as recited in claim 12 whereinsaid adhesive covers greater than 90% of said worn carpeting top pilesurface.